MacTech Blog

May 09

Locations analytics market worth US$11.84 by 2019

Location analytics is the next revolution of business intelligence, according to MarketsandMarkets (www.marketsandmarkets.com). Enterprises now focus on marketing effectiveness for competitive and market intelligence. Innovative technologies help them to achieve such goals, according to the research group.

Maps and location analytics provide a whole new concept to organizations, which they incorporate into their operations to achieve high sales and operational profitability. Location analytics helps in creating a profitable distribution channel by gaining insights through tracking and monitoring routes.

The high demand of location analytics has led to the invention of new technologies and solutions. Deploying location analytics by analyzing data using a Geographical Information System (GIS) within business is becoming an important core strategy for success, says MarketsandMarkets....

Digital marketing budgets will rise by 10% in 2014, following a double-digit percentage increase in 2013, according to a survey of marketing executives by Gartner, Inc. The survey found that, on average, companies spent 10.7% of their annual 2013 revenue on overall marketing activities, with digital marketing spending averaging 3.1 percent of revenue.

These findings are included in Gartner's "Digital Marketing Spending" report that's based on a survey of 285 individuals located in the U.S., but answering mainly for their entire organization (only 21% reported U.S.-only data). Respondents represent organizations with more than $500 million in annual revenue (average revenue $4.4 billion) across eight industries: financial services and insurance, high-tech, communications, manufacturing, media, retail, government and healthcare. The survey took place from July through September 2013.

Digital interactions influence 36 cents of every dollar spent in the retail store, or approximately US$1.1 trillion, according to the latest study from Deloitte Digital. By the end of 2014, that number will climb to 50%, or $1.5 trillion of total store sales.

"Mobile and online transactions represent only a sliver of total retail revenue potential," says Kasey Lobaugh, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP and Deloitte Digital's chief retail innovation officer. "Retailers that narrowly focus on digital commerce – rather than the full journey that leads to a purchase – often fail to recognize how their customers shop and make decisions in the store. The result is a digital divide between what consumers do and what retailers deliver. This gap not only threatens overall revenue, but requires retailers to reset the way they measure and invest in digital efforts."

According to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research (http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com), the global femtocells market was US$420 million in 2012 and is expected to reach $4,706 million in 2019; growing at a CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of 37.1% from 2013 to 2019.

A femtocell is a small, low-power cellular base station. In recent years, increasing femtocell deployments by a large number of mobile operators such as Sprint, Verizon and AT&T in North America, helped North America to dominate the market in 2012. Europe was the second largest market for femtocells as a large number of operators including Vodafone and Telefonica Group have rolled out femtocell services in this region.

The femtocell market is primarily driven by technological advancements and decreasing cost of femtocell devices. In addition, its increasing...

According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight (www.berginsight.com), the total value of the global real-time mobile location-based advertising and marketing (LBA) market will grow from € 1.2 billion in 2013 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 54% to € 10.7 billion in 2018.

This will then correspond to 38.6% of all mobile advertising and marketing. Location-based advertising and marketing will thus represent around 7% of digital advertising, or 2% of the total global ad spend for all media, according to the research group.

The past year has seen a number of significant developments in the real-time mobile LBA space. One example is the concept of beacons based on Bluetooth low energy (BLE).

"The concept of Bluetooth marketing has been reinvigorated following Apple’s introduction of iBeacon in 2013,"says Rickard Andersson, senior analyst, Berg Insight....

Rumours continue to swirl about Apple and its certain/probable/possible/mythical/impossible product introductions for 2014 (some may be all five at once). Given Apple's recent history, and that we've made it this far into the year without any major introductions, the Spy is convinced (has managed to convince himself—Nellie) that WWDC will be the venue for some significant product announcements.

Our reader may recall that by delaying two minutes after 0900 on ticket sale day in 2013, he missed by nearly half a minute the "sold-out" state for the 5000 tickets. This year, he put in his name on receiving Apple's kind invitation to do so, and was astonished to receive approval to buy after a random draw a few days later, so is one of the favoured ones--his first WWDC in several years. He anticipates interesting days in early June San Francisco. In what respect?

Following OTT and content licensing announcements at NAB and the Aereo, Inc. case before the Supreme Court, Parks Associates (www.parksassociates.com) says that pay-TV penetration remains fairly steady at around 85% of U.S. broadband households but over-the-top (OTT) video use is increasing on multiple devices, particularly with younger viewers.

"Pay-TV subscriptions remain high among Millennials, but at the same time, nearly 40% in this age group consider online video the most important source for video content," says Glenn Hower, research analyst, Parks Associates. "As consumers diversify their viewing resources, the licensing process becomes more complex. Additionally, the Supreme Court case in ABC v. Aereo could drastically reshape the licensing environment for retransmission. A win by Aereo may set legal precedent for a method to rebroadcast without compensation."

As worldwide Mobile Broadband Traffic heads toward 200 Exabytes per year, operators deploy 4G LTE, LTE-A, plead for spectrum, and try to manage usage through policy and pricing. The physics of mobile broadband radio do not follow Moore’s Law of digital scaling, so leading-edge operators are ready to address the physical realities of small cells. Nevertheless, the question remains; why not deploy carrier grade Wi-Fi with the small cells?

Industry advocates and operators are calling for more spectrum, and with HotSpot 2.0 gaining traction, operators should consider unlicensed Wi-Fi spectrum and Small Cells with Carrier Grade Wi-Fi as part of their portfolio.

“Wi-Fi is an integral part of the smartphone and tablet experience, and operators will do well to make Carrier Wi-Fi a part of that experience," says Joe Hoffman, practice director, mobile networks, ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com).

In the last week of March, major Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) in Asia dropped their prices for core services dramatically and IDC (www.idc.com) believes that this will make it very difficult for smaller CSPs to remain in business if they continue to rely on provision of basic, undifferentiated services.

"If the smaller CSPs are strong enough with decent customer bases, they will be acquired by larger providers. If not, then they're road-kill. In any case, both of the above will drive consolidation amongst the cloud vendors," says Chris Morris, AVP, Services Asia Pacific, and Lead Analyst, Cloud Services & Technologies, IDC Asia/Pacific.

Morris explains that Cisco's announcement of its InterCloud partnerships with several major SPs is based on differentiated Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) - differentiated by way of linkage of the Cisco technology layers (hardware and software) to provide a network service...

ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com) reports that smartphone components are being used in smartwatches in lieu of optimized smartwatch components, even when claimed otherwise. Teardowns of a number of devices found that nobody has an optimal wearable peripheral solution yet.

The Samsung Galaxy Gear and Z-watch use application processors originally targeted for smartphone/tablets and the uWatch goes a step further by using a full blown GPRS SOC, MediaTek MT6260, but only uses the integrated BT. Other watches like the Sony series and Pebble use discrete solutions. The end result is less than optimal battery life and unnecessary cost/size that get passed on to the consumer, according to the research group.

"Our findings show the chipset suppliers are playing the 'wait and see' game before making investments into wearable peripherals," says Jim Mielke, ABI Research’s vice president of engineering. "Of the...

New research from Parks Associates (www.parksassociates.com) shows that over 50% of U.S. smartphone and tablet owners are interested in tech support services that provide protection against loss, theft, or virus/infection, despite less than 10% experiencing such problems.

The research also notes that over one-fourth of U.S. broadband households are likely to purchase Internet-capable home monitoring products.

"Even though consumers encounter a wide range of problems with smartphones and tablets, they show highest interest in receiving support services that protect and secure their devices," says Patrice Samuels, research analyst, Parks Associates. "For example, 55% of smartphone owners want a service that protects their device from viruses and identity theft, and approximately 50% want a service that repairs or replaces their device if accidentally damaged, even though short battery life and...

By the end of 2015, active mobile broadband devices are forecast to reach 34 million, a nearly 50% increase from 2013, according to The NPD Group "Connected Intelligence Mobile Broadband Market Share and Forecast Report." Two-thirds (66 percent) of those devices will be tablets.

Driven primarily by enterprise demand, USB stick modems were the primary mobile broadband devices until the end of 2012, says The NPD Group (www.npd.com). Standalone mobile hotspots gained popularity in 2011 and 2012, but both devices have seen substantial declines over the year as more consumers are utilizing the hotspot features on their tablets and smartphones.

Tablets currently account for 40% of mobile broadband connections, and as USB sticks and mobile hotspots decline, carriers will need to boost adoption of the connected tablet. As this shift occurs the price of embedded cellular tablet should rapidly decline.

The news is full of stories concerning augmented reality; mostly in the context of the Google Glass project. Google glasses have been banned from bars, casinos, locker rooms, healthcare facilities and many government agencies.

The fear is that, armed with a forward facing camera, the devices will compromise peoples’ privacy and perhaps disclose confidential information. The dynamic is definitely one of concerned skepticism.

Nevertheless, augmented reality is entering the market, riding on the coattails of increasingly capable smartphones and a rich ecosystem of innovative software applications. Add in the new wave of wearable devices, such as smart watches, and the market is primed for explosive growth that will transform both mobility and consumer communication services, according to Research and Markets (www.researchandmarkets.com).

2014 is shaping up to be a breakout year for indoor location technologies in retail environments, as early adopters enter the final year of the three-year technology adoption cycle, shifting from trials to full-scale deployments, according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com).

Furthermore, BLE/iBeacons is creating a wave of second generation start-ups in this space that will help to drive new growth and use cases across all major verticals. Combined, this is expected to result in over 30,000 indoor location installations in 2014.

In the latest edition of ABI Research’s quarterly Market Data "Location Technologies," forecasts for the adoption and resulting revenues for all indoor location technologies are provided across over 11 major retail verticals.

The hallmark of a digital business will be the ability to spot opportunities that might span a matter of just seconds, according to Gartner, Inc. (www.gartner.com). The research group introduced the concept of a "business moment" — a transient opportunity that is exploited dynamically — in 2013 and expects these moments to occur more and more frequently as enterprises migrate from today's world to the digital business world.

Digital business is the creation of new business designs by blurring the digital and physical worlds. It promises to usher in an unprecedented convergence of people, business and things that disrupts existing business models, even those born of the Internet and e-business eras. Gartner predicts that by 2020, more than seven billion people and businesses, and at least 30 billion devices, will be connected to the Internet. With people, businesses and things communicating, transacting and even...

Worldwide home network penetration is expected to climb from 24.8% in 2013 to 33.2% by 2018, according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com). Growth is driven by the continued spread of broadband services and demand for multiscreen video services, according to the research group.

What is seen as commonplace in mature markets, including server provided broadband routers with integrated Wi-Fi access points and leveraging fixed broadband connections to offload expensive mobile data packages while consuming large amounts of content, is slower to move to emerging markets. In some cases, this is driven primarily by low service ARPU while in others it is simply limited fixed broadband infrastructure.

"Wi-Fi remains the most important networking technology, but despite an ever growing number of connected devices in consumer households, the demand for next generation wireless technologies will likely occur...

While Americans are well educated on the benefits of recycling bottles, cans and paper, the same can't be said of electronic devices. The proliferation of new cell phones and tablets has led to a growing glut of "e-waste" piling up in people's homes, as well as a lack of understanding about what to do with broken, unwanted or outdated devices.

According to a new survey released by ecoATM, (www.ecoatm.com), the nationwide network of automated electronics recycling kiosks, 57% of American device owners have idle cell phones in their homes, yet only 22%t state they have previously recycled cell phones they no longer use.

"Electronic waste is the fastest growing segment of our waste stream, and it's a problem that's only getting worse as more and more new phones and tablets are coming to market each year," says Mark Bowles, founder and Chief Marketing Officer of ecoATM. "Consumers are looking for easy and...

f a research team in Japan gets its wish, "normally off" computers may one day soon be replacing present computers in a move that would both eliminate volatile memory, which requires power to maintain stored data, and reduce the gigantic energy losses associated with it.

Most parts of present computers are made with volatile devices such as transistors and dynamic random access memory (DRAM), which loses information when powered off. So computers are designed on the premise that power is "normally on."

Back in 2000, the concept of "instant on" computers based on magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) emerged as a way to reduce that irritatingly long hang time associated with powering up – but it comes with a big tradeoff because it requires using volatile devices that continue to devour energy after the initial power up.

By 2001, researchers in Japan figured out a way to eliminate this pointless energy loss by using a nonvolatile function of advanced spin...

MarketsandMarkets.com says the cyber security market will be worth US$155.74 billion by 2019. The major forces driving this market are the rapid adoption of cloud-based services, wireless communication along with strict government mandates and increasing cyber crimes in public utilities industries, according tro the research group.

The ratification for cyber security solutions is increasing to combat the advanced and sophisticated threats created by professional adversaries. Also, cloud service providers and verticals such as energy, oil and gas, and education are expected to adopt solutions for cyber security more readily because of growing cyber crimes which may cause the loss of intellectual and financial assets and may tarnish the national infrastructure and economy.

In the current scenario, aerospace, defense, and intelligence vertical continues to be the largest contributor to cyber security solutions. In terms of regions, NA is expected to be the biggest market...

The IDC research group (www.idc.com) the business technology spending market will grow at 6.9% 5 year CAGR [compound annual growth rate] from US$236.6 billion in 2012 to $330.7 billion by 2017, while enterprise IT grows slowly at a 1.9% 5 year CAGR from $213.0 billion to 233.5 billion over the same forecast period.

Business funded technology is expected to reach $275.2 billion in 2014, accounting for 55% of total technology spending. Industry specific operation is the largest business line, capturing approximately 45% of total business funded technology in 2014, says IDC.

Enterprise IT spending is growing only at a 1.8% 5 year CAGR, far below the overall five-year technology CAGR of 4.6%. Only healthcare enterprise IT is growing faster (than overall technology spending.

Marketing is the fastest growing functional area, growing at a five-year CAGR of 9.5%, reaching nearly $26 billion by 2017, according to IDC...

According to data collected as part of Kaspersky Lab's "Financial Cyber Threats in 2013" study, cybercriminals are trying harder than ever to acquire confidential user information and steal money from bank accounts by creating fake sites mimicking financial organizations.

In 2013, 31.45% cent of phishing attacks were trading on the names of leading banks, online stores and online payment systems. That's an increase of 8.5 percentage points from the previous year.

Phishing is a fraudulent scheme used by cybercriminals to obtain confidential user data with the help of fake web pages imitating Internet resources. Unlike malicious software created for particular operating systems, phishing attacks threaten all devices which can access web pages. That is why they are so popular with scammers. In 2013 alone Kaspersky Lab (www.kaspersky.co.uk) says its products protected about 39.6 million users from this...

Worldwide semiconductor capital equipment spending totaled $33.8 billion in 2013, an 11.5% decline from 2012, according to final results by Gartner, Inc. (www.gartner.com) Wafer-level manufacturing equipment demand performed above the market with strength in lithography and associated processes, while back-end manufacturing segments fared significantly worse than average, according to the research group.

"With this as a backdrop, capital spending was muted and dominated by a few top players," says Klaus-Dieter Rinnen, managing vice president at Gartner. "A revival of memory-related spending during the year was not enough to stem the decline in equipment sales. Despite increased foundry investments, logic-related spending was a dampening force. Consequently, manufacturing equipment sales saw slow, sequential quarterly growth, and a fourth-quarter sales explosion was not enough to stop the second straight year...

Parks Associates has released research that provides in-depth analysis, competitor profiles, business model strategies, trends, and forecasts for product and service ecosystems serving the connected consumer.

Currently 75% of U.S. homes have broadband, and over 80% of these households have a home network. Over 60% own connected CE, including over 80% of consumers 18-34, and the average household has nearly seven connected CE devices.

"Consumers no longer evaluate connected home products and technology solely on functionality but on overall experience, which is driving greater demand for innovative connected technology and services in the digital home," says Stuart Sikes, president, Parks Associates (www.parksassociates.com). "Our research addresses the trends, new opportunities, and recommendations on dealing with challenges as companies add connected home solutions to their offerings."

Total worldwide semiconductor revenue reached $315 billion in 2013, up 5 percent from 2012, according to Gartner, Inc. (www.gartner.com). The combined revenue of the top 25 semiconductor vendors increased by 6.9% during 2013.

This was a significantly better performance than the rest of the market, whose revenue growth was 0.9%, and was due, in part, to the concentration of memory vendors in the top ranking, according to the research group. The memory market increased 23.5% in 2013.

"After a weak start to 2013 due to excess inventory, revenue growth strengthened during the second and third quarters before leveling off during the fourth quarter," says Andrew Norwood, research vice president at Gartner. "Memory, and in particular DRAM, led this growth; not due to strong demand, but rather weak supply growth that pushed pricing higher. In fact, the overall market faced a number of demand headwinds during the...

Parks Associates (www.parksassociates.com) is predicting that 4K TVs will follow a similar, but faster, growth pattern as HDTVs, which have reached 82% of U.S. broadband households after 15 years on the market.

The research group forecasts that 4K TVs will reach mass-market pricing in the next 2-3 years and top 80% of households in approximately 10-12 years. Parks Associates analysts note 4K will initially be delivered via OTT, with companies like Netflix, Comcast, and Amazon already working on 4K-based offerings, and as 4K traffic increases over the next two years, traffic demands on broadband networks will grow dramatically. As a result, operators are aggressively looking into bandwidth-saving technologies, including next-generation video compression technologies.

"4K TV adoption is following the same pattern as HDTV, but prices are dropping more quickly," says Stuart Sikes, president,...

Despite spending an average of US$1,848 annually on in-home telecom services, consumers aren't convinced it's money well spent. The latest subscriber survey on telecom providers from the Consumer Reports National Research Center found almost universally low ratings for value across services — especially for TV and Internet.

Those who bundled the services for a discount still seemed unimpressed with what they were getting for the money. Even top-rated regional provider WOW and nationally-distributed Verizon FiOS, which both got high marks for service satisfaction, rated middling or lower for value.

"Our latest report on telecom services revealed that very few consumers think they're getting a great deal, in part because of soaring prices and confusing bills," says Glenn Derene, Electronics Editor for Consumer Reports. "But the last thing consumers should do is be passive. Even though some companies are cracking down on serial negotiators, there's really no downside to...

According to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research (www.transparencymarketing.com), a global market intelligence company, the web content filtering market was valued at US#1,230.9 million in 2012 and is expected to reach $2,579.6 million by 2019, growing at a CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of 11.3% from 2013 to 2019.

With exponential growth of the Internet, there has been increase in number of cyber attacks and cyber threats. Therefore, due to security reasons, the demand for content filtering solutions in business organizations and government agencies is expected to rise over the forecast period from 2013 to 2019, according to Transparency Research.

The ever changing government regulations coupled with growing desire to manage the Internet bandwidth consumption wisely have collectively fueled market momentum, adds the research group. The demand for...

It's no longer a question of whether cloud is the right strategy, but rather how you will leverage the cloud's abundance of resources to outpace your competition, according to a study from Cloud Connect in partnership with the Everest Group. Titled, "Cloud Adoption in the Enterprise: Distilling the Facts from Hype. The study reveals the increasing influence of the cloud on IT budgets, staff and business strategy.

"The new reality our research points to is that the modern enterprise will not be defined by public, private or hybrid but rather all of the above," says Steve Wylie, Cloud Connect general manager. "Companies will be working within very heterogeneous cloud environments putting additional pressure on IT in dealing with these additional complexities. The Cloud Connect Summit will continue to deliver an unparalleled program each year rich in content to help IT leaders implement and evolve an effective cloud strategy."

IDC (www.idc.com) has published a new forecast for the Japan mobile device market, comprised of PCs, smartphones, tablets, and data communication products such as mobile cards and personal routers. IDC expects unit shipments will temporarily drop to 55.1million units in 2014, resulting in a year-over-year decline of -2.1%.

According to the research group, smartphone shipments will drop to 30.0 million units in 2014, which represents a year-over-year decline of -1.0%. The slowdown will be mainly due to lower sales of Android-powered smartphones caused by the three major carriers' promotional focus on the iPhone and slower new subscriber growth, particularly among consumers.

The commercial PC market is expected to decline -16.9% year over year, following some special demand brought about by Windows XP migrations in 2013. In contrast, the tablet market, which remains very healthy in both the commercial and consumer...

Feature phones, smartphones, and tablets shipped more than 1.9 billion units combined in 2013. However, the quality of audio experience hasn’t kept pace with other mobile advancements making it the Achilles’ heel.

According to new research from market intelligence firm ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com), next-generation devices are poised to deliver high-definition voice capability and a surge in smart audio accessories will result in users spending a greater portion of the waking day with their devices.

"How is it that the mobile device market has managed to become so large and important, yet fail to impress when it comes to the quality of the audio experience?" asks senior practice director Jeff Orr. "As users customize and personalize their mobile device, they increasingly want a better audio experience."

Multiple initiatives are underway to revolutionize the mobile device...

According to Research and Markets (www.researchandmarkets.com), the global smartphone market will grow at a CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of 15.3% over the period 2013-2018. One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the declining ASP [average selling price] of smartphones.

The global smartphones market has also been witnessing increasing demand for large-screen smartphones, according to the research group. However, the high production cost could pose a challenge to the growth of this market.

Commenting on the report, Research and Markets says: "The Global Smartphones market is expected to witness significant growth due to some emerging trends that are likely to have a positive impact on market growth over the next few years. One such trend is the increasing demand for large-screen smartphones. With the emergence of new technologies such as cloud computing,...

Wearable computing technology has been the "latest" buzz longer than most ideas (indeed longer than some ideas endure from conception to death), generating endless speculation about who will bring out what product in the genre and when.

As often the case, the Spy has the inside track. Mind, he does not deal in speculation or rumour. However, he does keep his ear to the ground, his eye on the horizon, his nose to the grindstone, his hand in the industry, and his mind on the probabilities, which for simultaneity may be a literal anatomical improbability and for metaphorical use too much a melange merely to be termed "mixed."

One new technology recently in the news was a means to read the brain's diversified visual storage and reconstruct memories of faces--touted as useful in identifying perpetrators of crimes. Sounds quite interesting. Add this to a new manufacturing technique from I.R.C. for integrated...

Over 50% of U.S. broadband households now use paid over-the-top (OTT) video services, either subscription or transactional, according to research from Parks Associates (http://www.parksassociates.com). The firm also notes 37% of consumers 18-24 say online video is their most important video source.

"Parks Associates research shows 45% of U.S. broadband households subscribe to a paid online video service, with younger consumers such as Millennials more likely than older consumers to use OTT services," says John Barrett, director, Consumer Analytics, Parks Associates.

According to the market research firm, online video is one of the most important sources of video among all U.S. broadband households. Over 40% of U.S. broadband households selected online video as one of the top three important sources of video, versus 25% for rented DVDs or 13% for owned Blu-ray discs.

The U.S. mobile payment landscape is currently in a state of flux: Although two-thirds of consumers are interested in learning more about transitioning to a mobile wallet platform, that interest is simply not translating into adoption, according to the Yankee Group (www.yankeegroup.com).

While traditional payment methods continue to reign supreme, a number of third-party mobile wallets are jockeying for position in the U.S. mobile payment landscape — but not all have the vision needed for long-term survival, says the research group. To endure the inevitable wave of consolidation, a well-defined roadmap paired with patience and endurance will be among the many competencies required.

Highlights from a new Yanke Group report include:
° Mobile wallets remain a story of high interest and low adoption, as just 16% of mobile device owners have used their phone to make an in-store payment in the past...

ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com) says this is a pivotal year for tablets as the traditional markets leading computing and CE [consumer electronics] deployments reach a tipping point and give way to growth regions.

The most mature markets, including North America, Western Europe, Japan and South Korea, are yielding to other regions, such as Latin America, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, where the connectivity infrastructure and distribution channels are coming of age. ABI Research forecasts 200 million branded tablet shipments this year—a 20% gain year-over-year from the 166 million shipments in 2013.

With more choices than ever for mobile computing, consumers and businesses will weigh the role of tablets along with ultraportable PCs and large screen smartphones (the so-called phablets) to satisfy their communications and computing needs. But 2014 will be anything but status quo for tablet...

While first generation LBS services have largely been commoditized or shifted to advertising models, the imminent arrival of indoor location, BLE tags, and wearables will enable next generation services around ambient intelligence and consumer asset tracking, according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com). In the latest edition of the company’s quarterly market data, "Location Enabled Services", these new markets are forecast by each major region.

"While these are very different markets, the common denominator is the availability of these new technologies and devices," says senior analyst Patrick Connolly. "Ambient intelligence, or the quantified self, is the first service that will truly change how people live their lives, while also enabling intuitive advertising and services. Local search will be unrecognizable from today’s model, as intelligent algorithms tell users what is of interest nearby, based...

New global research by the Ponemon Institute, sponsored by mobile interaction service provider tyntec, has revealed that on average almost 50% of One-Time Passwords(OTPs) fail to arrive due to invalid mobile numbers provided by end-users. For the study, the Ponemon Institute surveyed more than 1,800 IT and IT security practitioners around the world.

The research also revealed that 65% of respondents felt the traditional username and password approach was insecure. As a result, 90% of global IT managers say their organizations plan or consider the possibility to adopt SMS-enabled two-factor authentication (2FA) in 2014 in order to improve online security.
The majority of international respondents (31%) cited on average 11-20% is the amount of OTPs that fail to be delivered. Of that, almost 50% on average fail because an invalid mobile number was entered by the end-user. As well as end-users providing invalid mobile numbers, OTPs can also fail due to technical...

With more than two-thirds of the global population expected to live in urban contexts by 2050, the deployment of smart cities technologies and intelligent transportation services in particular, will become key policy areas for local governments, according to ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com).

By 2025, penetration of ITS technologies in smart cities will range from 20% (autonomous vehicles) to 98% (traffic management), according to the research group.

"While numerous smart city projects are currently testing or deploying multimodal transportation, traffic management, adaptive traffic signaling, transit ticketing and smart parking payment solutions, the focus will shift to urban tolling and freight systems to address rampant congestion and pollution issues, especially in developing regions. However, more structural approaches based on eMobility, cooperative ITS and V2I, autonomous vehicles, and...

The public cloud services market is slowly maturing, giving rise to a varied ecosystem of composite and value-added services. Security is starting to figure more prominently among these services as organizations realize they need better control over cloud-based processes, according to ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com).

While compliance concerns still remain high, cloud service providers have worked hard to address the issue, but at premium-level costs. SMBs have struggled to find the right balance between public cloud offerings and security. This gap is quickly being filled by innovative startups, eager to fill the demand for cost-effective and specialized security services for organizations subscribed to public cloud services, according to ABI Research.

The most dynamic market responses are around cloud API management, identity and access management (IAM), host and network security,...

ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com) says that Chinese handset vendors will account for over 50% of mobile handsets in 2015. Chinese vendors already accounted for 38% of mobile handset shipments in 2013 and the ongoing shift in growth to low cost handsets, especially smartphones, will increase their market share.

Greater China has long dominated the mobile handset manufacturing supply chain, but now its OEMs are beginning to dominate sales at the expense of the traditional handset OEMs [original equipment manufacturers], including even Samsung, according to the research group.

Many of the Chinese OEMs have focused almost exclusively on the huge Chinese market, with little activity beyond its borders, but this is set to change. Huawei (6th in worldwide market share for 2013) and ZTE (5th) have already made an impact on the world stage, but other Chinese handset OEMs like Lenovo — the...

Whether working as a one-person shop or part of a small consulting business, Apple consultants have more opportunity than ever to increase their revenue: 97% of Fortune 500 companies use iPhones for business, 98% of those companies use iPads, and Apple leads the individual smartphone market with 41% of users. When you take government and educational institutions into account, iPhones account for 59% of the entire enterprise smartphone market, and iPads for 78% of the tablet market.

But as with anything, these tremendous opportunities aren’t without their risks. Apple consultants who aren’t careful to manage the risks that accompany their work could find themselves with no clients, no revenue, and high legal bills.

The Major Risks That Threaten Apple Consultants

Here’s a look at the four biggest risks that threaten Apple consultants and how they can manage those risks to keep their business in the black....

Worldwide external disk storage systems factory revenues increased year over year by 2.4%, totaling $6.9 billion, during the fourth quarter of 2013 (4Q13), according to the IDC research group (http://www.idc.com).

For the quarter, the total (internal plus external) disk storage systems market generated $8.8 billion in revenue, representing a 1.3% increase from the prior year's fourth quarter and a sequential increase of 17.2% compared to the seasonally lower 3Q13. Total disk storage systems capacity shipped surpassed 10.2 exabytes, growing 26.2% year over year.

"The disk storage systems market was able to break free of recent headwinds due to traditional year-end budget flushes, improved economic sentiment, and a strong desire to address long-standing storage infrastructure inefficiencies," says Eric Sheppard, research director, IDC Storage. "Industry stakeholders able to capitalize the most on this demand...

2013 proved to be a good year for the tandem markets for workstations and professional GPUs, reports technology and market research firm, Jon Peddie Research (www.jonpeddie.com). In the fourth quarter, the market continued onward and upward, holding on to the substantial gains of the previous two quarters, closing out a healthy 2013.

Worldwide, the industry shipped approximately 971.6 thousand workstations in the fourth quarter of 2013, essentially flat (-0.2%) from Q3'13 and up 4.0% from the same quarter the year prior. That figure nearly eclipsed the record 1.0 million units the market set back in 2011. Given the quarter was sequentially flat, but exhibited respectable year-over-year (YoY) growth rate (4.0%), the leading workstation and graphics research firm labeled Q4'13 as another positive quarter in the market's steady, albeit unhurried, journey forward.

The worldwide Wi-Fi customer premises equipment market including access points, routers and gateways shipments surpassed 139.1 million in 2013. 802.11ac access point adoption is starting to gain market share, representing 8% of the total consumer access point market in 2013, according to ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com).

More device manufacturers started to ship 802.11ac products in 2013; the majority of them provide dual-band access to support existing 802.11n devices.

"Although 802.11n devices hold the largest market share of the consumer Wi-Fi device shipments in 2013, 802.11n share of shipments is likely to start declining in 2014 as 802.11ac device adoption continues to grow. 802.11ac devices are expected to represent 45% of consumer Wi-Fi equipment shipments at the end of 2014," says Khin Sandi Lynn, industry analyst, ABI Research.

Technology Business Research Inc.’s "Cloud Professional Services Customer Report" shows demand for cloud professional services continues to escalate, with more than 74% of enterprise clients, compared to 59% in 2011, purchasing or considering purchasing cloud computing services engaged with a cloud professional services vendor for assistance.

Recently, clients’ professional services demands shifted, with a need for assistance in system integration and implementation taking the lead. TBR surveyed 900 end users of cloud professional services across North America, Europe and Asia to map vendor opportunity and customer and competitor landscapes for the report, which is one of three customer-facing research initiatives in TBR’s cloud customer portfolio, says TBRI Senior Analyst Ramunas Svarcas.

With a growing number of customers investing in cloud services, the demand for cloud professional services is on the rise. TBR estimates cloud professional services revenue...

The Parks Associates research group (www.parksassociates.com) has released mobile industry research showing roughly 29% of U.S. broadband users watch video on a mobile phone monthly, with the average user watching 1.7 hours of video on a mobile phone each week.

"Since 2008, revenues from voice services for the top-four U.S. mobile network operators (MNOs) have declined 6%, while data revenues have grown 129%," says Harry Wang, director, Health & Mobile Product Research, Parks Associates. "Mobile data revenues will be key to offsetting stagnant growth in voice revenues. Most major MNOs worldwide are transitioning or have already adopted tiered or shared usage-based data plans, and they will continue to experiment with pricing models to optimize the revenue-generation potential of mobile data access."

Consumer exposure to advanced recommendations engines will grow to reach 75% of Pay TV households on multiscreen services and 55% on set-top boxes within North America by 2018, up from 20% and 10% in 2013, respectively, according to ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com).

This significant growth is driven by today’s highly competitive viewer landscape for Pay TV and OTT operators, says the research group. At the core of this are search, recommendation and discovery technologies that rely heavily on rich metadata as well as user analysis and learning.

"TiVo’s acquisition of recommendation specialist Digitalsmiths is indicative of the tight relationship between guides, metadata, and recommendations," says ABI Research Practice Drector Sam Rosen. "We expect further consolidation moving forward as recommendations move from a wish-list item to a must-have in today’s competitive environment....

According to ABI Research’s "Mobile Internet Pricing Q1-2014 Market Data," more than 55% of the cheapest country tariff plans are 4G compared to just 22% a year ago. This has been driven by the aggressive deployment of LTE networks and a wider choice of consumer-centric LTE smartphones.

"However, we found that the average cost of mobile Internet tariff plans across the cheapest 20 markets increased by 8.24% between Q1-2013 and Q1-2014," comments Marina Lu, research associate at ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com). "While 55% of the 20 cheapest country plans were 4G, 4G tariff plans were only marginally more expensive than 3G tariff plans. One year ago, the 4G data pricing was around 20% higher than 3G for the equivalent data-plan. Competition is forcing the mobile operators to pare down the prices of even their 4G tariffs."

Organizations wishing to unlock the full potential of mobility must master a wide range of technologies and skills, many of which are unfamiliar to IT staff, according to Nick Jones, vice president and distinguished analyst at the Gartner research group (www.gartner.com). He lists the top 10 mobile technologies and capabilities that organizations must master in 2015 and 2016. as follows:

° Most organizations will need application development tools to support a "3 x 3" future — three key platforms (Android, iOS and Windows) and three application architectures (native, hybrid and mobile Web). Tool selection will be a complex balancing act, trading off many technical and nontechnical issues (such as productivity versus vendor stability), and most large organizations will need a portfolio of several tools to deliver to the architectures and platforms they require.

Emerging IC applications, outside of the traditional card form-factors are set to make up an increasing proportion of the secure IC market landscape, accounting for 11% of total shipments in 2013, increasing to 24% in 2018, says ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com).

The primary use cases for ICs outside of card based applications include authentication ICs for anti-counterfeiting and brand protection, use within luxury goods, ICT, CE devices and accessories, pharmaceutical and IT consumables, covering products and components, embedded secure elements for NFC enabled devices and TPMs. Combined it is these emerging applications which will present annual IC revenues in excess of US$2.9 billion in 2018, according to ABI Research.

The threat from counterfeit goods is on the increase and IC technology is seen as a hardware solution to guarantee product/component authenticity, protecting brands...

PCalc is a full-featured, scriptable scientific calculator with support for hexadecimal, octal, and binary calculations, as well as an RPN mode, programmable functions, and an extensive set of unit... Read more

FileZilla 3.10.2 - Fast and reliable FTP...

FileZilla (ported from Windows) is a fast and reliable FTP client and server with lots of useful features and an intuitive interface.
Version 3.10.2:
Note: Now requires a 64-bit Intel processor.... Read more

The Hit List 1.1.11 - Advanced reminder...

The Hit List manages the daily chaos of your modern life. It's easy to learn - it's as easy as making lists. And it's powerful enough to let you plan, then forget, then act when the time is right.... Read more

Bartender 1.2.32 - Organize your menu ba...

Bartender lets you organize your menu bar apps.
Features:
Lets you tidy your menu bar apps how you want.
See your menu bar apps when you want.
Hide the apps you need to run, but do not need to... Read more

ClamXav 2.7.5 - Free virus checker, base...

ClamXav is a free virus checker for OS X. It uses the tried, tested, and very popular ClamAV open source antivirus engine as a back end.
I hope you like and use ClamXav a lot and that it helps keep... Read more

xScope 4.1.2 - Onscreen graphic measurem...

xScope is powerful set of tools that are ideal for measuring, inspecting, and testing on-screen graphics and layouts. Its tools float above your desktop windows and can be accessed via a toolbar,... Read more

MacFamilyTree 7.3.3 - Create and explore...

MacFamilyTree gives genealogy a facelift: it's modern, interactive, incredibly fast, and easy to use. We're convinced that generations of chroniclers would have loved to trade in their genealogy... Read more

Skype 7.5.0.738 - Voice-over-internet ph...

Skype allows you to talk to friends, family and co-workers across the Internet without the inconvenience of long distance telephone charges. Using peer-to-peer data transmission technology, Skype... Read more

PushPal 3.0 - Mirror Android notificatio...

PushPal is a client for Pushbullet, which automatically shows you all of your phone's notifications right on your computer. This means you can see who's calling or read text messages even if your... Read more

At this point it’s pretty safe to say that no MOBA is going to dethrone Dota 2 and League of Legends anytime soon. After all, if Batman can’t do it, nobody can. However, with a genre as popular and profitable as this one, there’s still room for... | Read more »

Final February Fun at 148Apps
How do you know what apps are worth your time and money? Just look to the review team at 148Apps. We sort through the chaos and find the apps you’re looking for. The ones we love become Editor’s Choice, standing out... | Read more »

GDC 2015 – Does Not Commute is Definitel...

GDC 2015 – Does Not Commute is Definitely a Game You Should Keep an Eye on
Posted by Rob Rich on March 2nd, 2015 [ permalink ]
We were teased about Mediocre Games’ (Smash Hit,
| Read more »

F84 Games & POW! Announce Stan Lee V...

F84 Games has announced that it is working with legendary comic creator Stan Lee and POW! Entertainment to produce Stan Lee’s Hero Command. The game will be a action adventure of heroic proportions.
| Read more »

Setlyst Keeps Your Set Straight So You C...

Setlyst Keeps Your Set Straight So You Can Focus On Rocking Out.
Posted by Jessica Fisher on March 2nd, 2015 [ permalink ]
Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
| Read more »

Space is Vast, So Space Agency Has a Vas...

Space is Vast, So Space Agency Has a Vast New Update!
Posted by Jessica Fisher on March 2nd, 2015 [ permalink ]
Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
| Read more »

Size DOES Matter Review

Size DOES Matter Review
By Campbell Bird on March 2nd, 2015
Our Rating: :: HARD TO BEATUniversal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
This rhythm game has a unique control scheme and performance system that make it feel like a true... | Read more »

The first ever action 3D card battler Al...

On the other hand, you probably haven’t played an action 3D card battler – until now. Step forward, All Star Legion.
All Star Legion is a 3D QTE-based action RPG card battler, but fear not – the game itself isn’t as convoluted as its description.... | Read more »

Travel Back to the 1980s With the Making...

Headup Games has released a hilarious making of video for its upcoming title, Pixel Heroes: Byte & Magic. The game is a RPG/Roguelike where you control three heroes set to save the township of Pixton from an evil cult called The Sons of Dawn.... | Read more »

Price Scanner via MacPrices.net

Sale! 15-inch 2.2GHz Retina MacBook Pro for $...

Best Buy has the 15″ 2.2GHz Retina MacBook Pro on sale for $1774.99 $1799.99, or $225 off MSRP. Choose free home shipping or free local store pickup (if available). Price valid for online orders... Read more

27-inch 3.5GHz 5K iMac in stock today and on...

B&H Photo has the 27″ 3.5GHz 5K iMac in stock today and on sale for $2299 including free shipping plus NY sales tax only. Their price is $200 off MSRP, and it’s the lowest price available for... Read more

Apple Launches Free Web-Based Pages and Other...

Apple’s new Web-only access to iWork productivity apps is a free level of iCloud service available to anyone, including people who don’t own or use Apple devices. The service includes access to Apple... Read more

Survey Reveals Solid State Disk (SSD) Technol...

In a recent SSD technology use survey, Kroll Ontrack, a firm specializing in data recovery, found that while nearly 90 percent of respondents leverage the performance and reliability benefits of SSD... Read more

Save up to $600 with Apple refurbished Mac Pr...

The Apple Store is offering Apple Certified Refurbished Mac Pros for up to $600 off the cost of new models. An Apple one-year warranty is included with each Mac Pro, and shipping is free. The... Read more

Apple CEO Tim Cook will deliver the George Washington University’s Commencement address to GWU grads on May 17, at which time he will also be awarded an honorary doctorate of public service from the... Read more

Apple restocks refurbished Mac minis for up t...

The Apple Store has restocked Apple Certified Refurbished 2014 Mac minis, with models available starting at $419. Apple’s one-year warranty is included with each mini, and shipping is free:
- 1.4GHz... Read more

Walmart has the 16GB iPad Air 2 WiFi on sale for $446.99 on their online store for a limited time. Choose free shipping or free local store pickup (if available). Sale price for online orders only,... Read more

Jobs Board

*Apple* Solutions Consultant - Retail Sales...

**Job Summary** As an Apple Solutions Consultant (ASC) you are the link between our customers and our products. Your role is to drive the Apple business in a retail
Read more

*Apple* Pay Automation Engineer - iOS System...

**Job Summary** At Apple , great ideas have a way of becoming great products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Bring passion and dedication to your job
Read more

Sr. Technical Services Consultant, *Apple*...

**Job Summary** Apple Professional Services (APS) has an opening for a senior technical position that contributes to Apple 's efforts for strategic and transactional
Read more

Event Director, *Apple* Retail Marketing -...

…This senior level position is responsible for leading and imagining the Apple Retail Team's global engagement strategy and team. Delivering an overarching brand
Read more

*Apple* Pay - Site Reliability Engineer - Ap...

**Job Summary** Imagine what you could do here. At Apple , great ideas have a way of becoming great products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Bring
Read more

MacTech is a registered trademark of Xplain Corporation. Xplain, "The journal of Apple technology", Apple Expo, Explain It, MacDev, MacDev-1, THINK Reference, NetProfessional, Apple Expo, MacTech Central, MacTech Domains, MacNews, MacForge, and the MacTutorMan are trademarks or service marks of Xplain Corporation. Sprocket is a registered trademark of eSprocket Corporation. Other trademarks and copyrights appearing in this printing or software remain the property of their respective holders. Not responsible for typographical errors.

All contents are Copyright 1984-2011 by Xplain Corporation. All rights reserved. Theme designed by Icreon.